to april did not budge. the economy is going to grow and grow strongly, workers need to make more money to buy stuff. >> alison kosik, thank you so much. thank you for being with me. i'm brooke baldwin. have a wonderful weekend. "the lead" with jake tapper starts now. president obama today vowing to come down harder on russia if moscow does not quit meddling in ukraine. i'm jake tapper. this is "the lead." the world lead. as pro russia protesters shoot helicopters out of the sky, germany's chancellor angela merkel talks about squeezing more sanctions on russia. >> jeb, if you need some advice, give me a call. >> increasingly it seems that

republican donors may be inclined to and the pop culture lead, do you think this gives you a respectability that you didn't have before? >> absolutely not. >> joel mchale has something to make fun of, us, the host of "the soup" and the star of "the community" drops by "the lead" ahead of the white house correspondents' dinner. good afternoon, everyone. i'm jake tapper. we'll begin with the world lead. death in ukraine. 31 people died at a trade union building while the cause is not perfectly clear, odessa is currently being torn apart by rioting and clashes between ukrainian royalists and

pro-russia activists with thousands positioned near the eastern border. but right here in the u.s., president obama and german chancellor angela merkel meeting at the white house today emerging with some tough talk about their willingness to squeeze sectors of the russian economy. also today, russia called an emergency meeting of the united nations security meeting, the second in the same week. the u.s. believes moscow was pulling the strings on the forces but the u.s. ambassador warned against outside interference and did so without interference. >> translator: it's time for them to talk about reason with the ukraine and stop toying with the destiny of the ukrainian people. >> toying with the destiny of the ukrainian people. funny. that's exactly how u.s.

officials would characterize what russia's doing. i want to bring in our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. while russia and the u.s. are trading these veiled and not so veiled threats, violence is burst in ukraine. >> two helicopters shut down with ground to air missiles today. the president referred to those. you mentioned this fire at the plant in odessa. that's 31 dead people. more than that killed in the gunfire. it's looking more and more like an armed conflict and now you have the administration setting a new standard which is the continuation of this kind of disruption as we get closer to that election on may 25th, crucial elections and the outlook right now does not look good. every day, ukraine looks more and more like a country at war. here, residents cheered after two ukrainian helicopters are

shot done, both pilots were killed. and here, pro-russian militants crash with ukrainian police. the new violence comes as ukrainian forces launch their most intensive efforts so far to push pro-russian militants from one eastern city from a slip from their control. but ethnic russians resisted, blocking ukrainian tanks and demanding they not advance any farther. still, struggling to devise a policy to de-escalate the crisis, president obama met with angela merkel in washington. together, they set a new trigger for broader sector base sanctions against russia. any interference, they say, with crucial elections later this month. >> if, in fact, we see the disruptions and the destabilization continuing, so severely is that it impedes elections on may 25th, we will

not have a choice but to move forward with additional, more severe sanctions. >> reporter: until now, such sanctions against the banking sectors have been reserved for a full-scale invasion. russia, however, remains undeterred. russia says ukraine's military operations in the east scud delled a deal reached in geneva to defuse the crisis, to reinsure the eastern european allies, nato is considering extending military action in the region. chuck hagel said all allies must share the burden, not just the u.s. >> we must not shrink from this challenge. we will be judged harshly by history and by future generations if we do. >> the white house is also

pushing back hard against this idea expressed by russians that they are under threat and that the militants are peaceful protesters. the president said that protesters don't shoot down helicopters. a fair point. >> jim sciutto, thank you so much. so what was a shaky cease fire in the beginning is going up in black smoke. the city of slovyansk is being told don't even look out a window as the terror operations are under way. nick paton walsh is near the danger zone. describe the situation on the ground and the fire power surrounding the city. >> reporter: well, certainly there are reports from inside slovyansk of having gunfire and the ukraine defense ministry is saying that two of the paratroopers have been killed at a place we saw them taking up position earlier on today.

they moved in, sat on a bridge, surrounded by local residents who are angry towards them and also ran over and tried to get in the way and reinforced with helicopters but gunfire has taken the lives of two ukrainian soldiers. they are moving in and around the city certainly taking over places that are previously held by pro-russian militants. but this fire in odessa, jake, the continued violence is making everybody completely concerned. we're in a different phase of this conflict. jake? >> you said they are detained for bringing down the two ukrainian choppers. do we know who they are and how closely they may be tied to russia? >> no, we don't know. it's always been hard on the ground to tie the pro-russian militants to the circumstantial evidence that is overwhelming given how organized and coordinated much of the pro-russian militant activity

is. hard to concoct that in a matter of weeks. there is no, as it were, smoking gun and lots of people you speak to, the royalists are indeed ukrainian. there is just a lot of support and strategy behind this and that surely must come from moscow. >> nick paton walsh, thank you so much. the u.s. ambassador jeffrey payot says ukraine's military action in slovyansk was, quote, a legitimate law enforcement operation. so does the u.s. support more of these in the future? and ambassador jeffrey payot is joining me. what are you hearing from the government there? are they hearing about more anti-terrorism activities and am i to take from your statement that they have the complete support of the government and the u.s. activities? >> jake, let me say, yes, we

support what they are doing in holding up their own laws and trying to manage the security situation. we acknowledge that there was a strong state reaffirming their agreement as a way of de-escalating this crisis. the foreign minister with me and the representative of the osce and european representative reaffirmed that they continue to work on de-escalating the crisis. they want to see the release of all illegally seized buildings. we've seen frog grprogress on tt in kiev but we've seen where weapons have been used by the groups taking over these buildings. we're very concerned about the continued presence of hostages,

including diplomatic military observers who were there as part of the vienna document. they have been illegally held for a week now, held by militants in a basement in slovyansk. 40 people have now been kidnapped in slovyansk. you have a major law enforcement problem there. the international community is trying to help through the work of the osce and that's something that the united states is going to continue to support with all of our energies. >> how would you describe the u.s./russia relationship right now? have you, for example, been in touch with any russian officials? >> well, my russian counterpart, the russians have an affair here in ukraine because they withdrew their ambassador back in the winter. but the affair has been a regular participant in what had been almost daily meetings that we've held with the foreign minister and with the osce to

try to manage this process. the russian sharjay was with me to see that the building had been cleared by the demonstrators, preparing for the rehabilitation of the building. >> mr. ambassador, what do you make of russia trying to withdraw ukrainian troops from ukraine's own territory sni think a l thi? i think a lot of people thought it was bizarre. >> our reaction would be a similar one. it's ukraine's place to defend its own territory and in the face of the instability, the accept ra tift activity that is unfolding in many of these cities like donetsk and acting within the framework of international law, acting within the framework of its own constitution to get a handle on the security situation. we don't see that as something

that russia should be able to exercise any sort of a veto over. >> so it's fair to say that the united states government thought that request was bizarre? >> let me just say, we see the ukraini ukrainian actions as completely legitimate. >> ambassador geoffrey pyatt, thank you so much. did one of putin's strongest european allies convince president obama to change course? that's next. and where are the establishment republicans' allegiance? are they abandoning? one is for jeb bush. honestly, i'm pouring everything i have into this place.

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economy, finance, weapons, and so forth. today president obama lowered the bar for those sanctions saying all it could take is russia interfering in ukraine's may 25th presidential elections. let's bring in richard haas, the former director of policy planning for the u.s. state department under president george w. bush. richard, good to see you, as always. i want to sd ask you about what is going on in ukraine. it looked like it was all at war. how would you define what is going on there? >> it's not all out war. it's getting more violent. russia has regulars there and plus they are helping locals. ukrainian defense forces such as they are increasingly deployed to the east. and so what you're seeing is some kind of a low level civil conflict. >> in other news, what i was referring to earlier, president obama today basically lowered

the bar on the sectoral sanctions. it's no longer if russia invades. they could be imposed if russia interferes with ukraine's elections later this month. do you think that's because merkel came and they hatched a plan together? what do you think caused this shift? >> well, it would be go if chancellor merkel signed up for something like this. up until now she said if russia invaded, it's highly unlikely simil vladimir putin would invade. so what the president articulated is a more realistic criteria. i'm just hoping that the europeans and others are ready to respond if russia continues to provoke disarray in ukraine. >> i guess i'm a little confused in the definition of meddling in an election. if russia is, as critics charge, bombarding eastern ukraine with propaganda, seeking in the special operatives, encouraging

pro-russian thugs, how is he not already messing with the elections? >> look, i'm with you, jake. more fundamentally he's messing as a society, an economy, and political entity. i would think that he's already crossed any reasonable line. what i wasn't privy to are the details between the exchange of the american president and his german counterpart. what we also don't know and what i think we should be looking at is not simply what kind of sanctions would be introduced but whether the europeans fully support them. are the europeans prepared to begin a process of reducing their energy dependence on russia, which over time could be at least as important? what steps are the europeans willing to take within nato and their own defense spending. so there's a whole number of steps of which sanctions towards russia is simply one of them. >> merkel has been viewed as the only european leader that putin would consider listening to but

a month ago, do you think she still has sway with putin? >> germany is the most important economy from russia's point of view and also the most important country in europe is the russians as the russians see it for economics, for politics, for geography. mr. putin operates on his own set of calculations. he wants to restore as much as possible and imperial reality outside rush shsia's borders an he's doing his calculations not as in the past. he's not trying to join europe. instead, he's trying to create an alternative to europe. >> richard haas, thank you so much. >> thanks, jake. coming up, a drop in the unemployment rate but republicans are not convinced that the president's economic policy is working. their complaint behind the numbers. plus, he's the star of "the

soup" and now joel mchale is here to roast some of the most powerful men and women in the country. but before he does, he sits down with little old me. our conversation, coming up. ♪ ♪ ♪ ben! well, that was close! you ain't lying! let quicken loans help you save your money. with a mortgage that's engineered to amaze! you created light. you are loved. celebrated. but things have changed since you got into this business. at philips, we're creating led light that people can color...

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welcome back to "the lead." it's a deadly mystery disease that has killed so far 100 people in the middle east and now it's here. the first reported case of mers in the u.s. one person in indiana has middle east respiratory syndrome. it's a viral infection that spreads through close contact. all cases had been reported around the arabian peninsula. we'll continue to monitor this story and bring you any updates. the buried lead now. it's any parents worst nightmare. your daughter is kidnapped by terrorists and sold into slavery. it's been more than two weeks that this happened to 230 teen girls in nigeria. their moms and dads have been demanding that the government

help bring their girls home to little effect. it became a social media event throughout the world. >> reporter: the streets of nigeria are teaming with protesters. furious that their government isn't doing more to find close to 200 school girls kidnapped in the dead of night. >> i'm a young mother. i can't imagine any mother going through this. it's disheartening. it's shocking. >> reporter: militants with the group boko haram kidnapped the girls. it was designated a terrorist group by the u.s. government last november. forced on to trucks, the armed men originally took 230 girls into a dense forest along the nigerian border. this young girl was among a few dozen who managed to escape. >> translator: my friends and i jumped from the vehicle and ran back home because we realized they don't look innocent to us. >> reporter: there are some 200 girls in captivity with reports

that they have been forced to convert to islam and have been sold as child brides for as little as $12 each. >> i would say it's slavery and moreover, it's sexual slavery. >> reporter: this the latest horror from boko haram, whose name means western civilization is sinful. they are trying to establish a radical islamic state in nigeria. the government says they are committed to freeing the girls but their inability to do so thus far has pushed locals to social media. the #bringbackourgirls has galvanized a huge response. >> this became a way to connect not just with other nigerians in the u.s. and around the world but also to get the word out about what was really happening with the kidnapping of the girls. >> an associate professor of african studies at the up

university of pennsylvania -- >> marches have begun. it's a different day now because i think a lot of the people in nigeria are on board. the government may not be yet. >> reporter: in washington, d.c., it's set for tuesday. the u.s. state department says that officials from the obama administration has been talking to the nigerian government about what help the nation already provides more than $20 million in security assistance to nigeria. when we come back, his big brother told me he should run and now big money republicans seem to be telling jeb bush the same thing. will that make it awkward for another big name republican with his eye on the house? dentures are very different to real teeth.

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across the state because it makes a difference. woman: so tell tom torlakson to keep fighting for the career and technical training our students need. i'm taking off, but, uh, don't worry. i'm gonna leave the tv on for you. and if anything happens, don't forget about the new xfinity my account app. you can troubleshoot technical issues here. if you make an appointment, you can check out the status here. you can pay the bill, too. but don't worry about that right now. okay. how do i look? ♪ thanks. [ male announcer ] troubleshoot, manage appointments, and bill pay from your phone. introducing the xfinity my account app. welcome back to "the lead." donors way jilting christie for jeb bush. that's an actual "new york times" title. jilted.

almost like we're talking about the latest breakup ballot by taylor swift. but this is politics, not a taylor swift song. jeb bush is getting serious about a run for the presidency and that could give republicans a choice. christine todd whitman said it would be odd. very odd. and jeb bush's brother told me something in crawford yesterday. >> i hope jeb runs. and i think he would be a great president. i have no clue what's on his mind and we'll talk when he's ready. so hey, jeb, if you need some advice, give me a call.

>> apparently a polite nudge from a big brother to try to get his little brother to run. what do you think, though? does this signal that the family's coalescing around the idea? >> i think the family would like him to run. i think they saimultaneously knw how hard it is. he's really the only person that understands how difficult it can be and how wearing it can be. and it's going to be an issue for jeb bush if he runs both in a republican primary and in a general election, not just because of his favorable ratings. the democrats love to answer for president obama as sort of slipping political ratings, too, but in every issue of the george w. bush administration, jeb is going to get asked about medicare part d., no child left behind, the iraq war. >> katrina. >> katrina.

right. there, george w. bush saying we haven't really talked, i think we're going to see that interesting dance happen over and over again. >> perhaps the more interesting thing from what president bush told me yesterday was he basically made a case for his brother. one that had to do with electability. take a listen. >> have a big state, he's confident he can reach out for people who believe that the republican party doesn't listen to them. >> that's an interesting thing to say, that jeb can reach out to people who jeb thinks people don't listen to him. presumably he's talking about younger voters, latinos, women. it's pure electability. >> absolutely. even as they fear that some of the baggage from the bush name would be a problem for him, even as they fear that he might have

a hard time getting through a republican primary, he looks like someone who knows how to win an election. as his brother said there, was the governor of the -- the popular governor of a purple state and they are desperate to put some points on the board in a presidential election. >> peter, you talk to grassroots activists all the time. >> electability is something that never comes up when you talk about activists. this is very much a donor topic and that's one reason they love chris christie before bridgegate and continue to like him. these are not the only people that are going to determine the silent plurality. jeb bush and chris christie can appeal to them, too. but, again, if you talk to the base, winning isn't the thing. it's about principle.

>> let's talk about chris christie because there was an interesting story in "the new york times" today about donors who like both guys but seem to be -- perhaps they were in christie's camp. in 2012, donors tried to get christie to run late in the game. they are looking at jeb bush and what is going on. in fact, a former chair of the south carolina republican party, barry wint said, they feel good about jeb. they don't have any questions about his integrity. that's a pretty pointed quote in a story about jeb versus chri y christie. >> the republican party, you talk about the establishment, is the bush people. george h.w. bush became chairman of the rnc. another thing going on here is chairman of the south carolina republican party and the south

is going to be difficult for chris christie. i mean, that's going to be tough. >> quickly, do you think chris christie is going to look at jeb warily for the next few months? >> surely. as mitt romney was becoming the nominee, he was getting drafted. now the draft effort is for somebody else and he's not the popular girl at the dance anymore. >> it's a fickle sport, politics is. when you look closely at the math, there's a drawbrak. and later, he's the star of two television shows but there's nothing like cracking jokes about the president to the president's face. coming up, joel mchale talks to me about the weirdest gig that comedians can have. jeff... hey, scott!

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6.3%. that's from the april jobs report. as 280,000 more americans found work. 280,000. that's the most jobs added during a single month in two years. the last time the unemployment was this low in 2008, a certain russian president was in the middle of invading a country. the economy is finally making a recovery, right? well, maybe not. the workforce shrank. are the larger trends still going the wrong way? joining me to talk about this all, analyn, what do you make of these numbers? >> we are seeing a bounce back. there were 208,000 jobs added in april. that says we've had a long-time

unemployment problem. unemployment even at 6.3% is still too high. and we still have a lot of people who are part time for economic reasons. they would prefer to be working full time. >> is this report a sign that the economy is turning the corner despite the bad gdp numbers from earlier this week or is it definitely still stagnating? >> on wednesday, you're right, we had a weak gdp report. however, that was mainly due to weather. economists are really struggling off that number saying it was due to cold and blizzards, slowing the housing market, manufacturing, the job market, all of those things. now that we're in april, we're starting to see stronger growth and other economic indicators and this jobs report backs it up. we're seeing a turn around in job growth and economists are expecting stronger numbers ahead. >> annalyn kurtz, thank you so

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welcome back to "the lead." time now for the pop lead. tomorrow night it's the white house correspondents' dinner where the president and first lady gather in front of cameras for an awkward meal and then we look the president and celebrity host roast us, like this. >> of course, the white house correspondents' dinner is known as a prom in washington, d.c., for those who never had a chance to go to an actual prom.

>> that's not fair, mr. president. i had totally planned to go to my prom but donky kong 3 had just come out and i had a tough choice to make. i sat down with joel mchale who is sitting down for his most difficult and challenging role yet, making politicians laugh at themselves. the night's guest include the powerful, political, the posh, and the president who often tells jokes over dinner. >> why don't you get a drink with martin luthitch mcconnell. comedians it's without intrepidation. >> now, i've made some jokes about the president this evening and now i'm looking forward to my audit. >> i called conan, seth, jimmy,

and craig ferguson to gather information. it's all pretty much the same advice, which was, this is the weirdest thing you will ever do and the most exhilarating thing you'll ever do. >> this year, the honor goes to joel mchale, long-time host of "the soup" on e! he has a devoted fan base. >> i'm joel mchale. >> no, i'm joel mchale. >> he's burst into fame for his critically acclaimed sitcom "community," a show that has yet to renew for next season, angering its fans. >> we saved greendale. >> so "the soup," "community," white house correspondents' dinner, was this always the plan? >> this is exactly how i wanted my career to go. >> do you think this gives you the respectability you are

looking for? >> absolutely not. >> joel sat down to tell me how he has prepared for what might be his toughest crowd ever. >> what i've learned is there are so many powerful people, rich people that long ago they made enough one and have enough power to never laugh again so they want to hear jokes about them. even though they might not want to be roasted, they are the most important person in any other room so they want that feeling. >> i think you got it down. >> see, i'm going to say it to them. >> the white house correspondents' dinner has been criticized a lot for reporters being too chummy with people in power, for all of the celebrities that now come. tom brokaw started boycotting it after lindsay lohan was invited. >> who cares? it's just an excuse to go have a good night. we have way bigger problems. >> are you worried at all about

hurting feelings on saturday night or is that kind of -- are you excited? >> no. you can't -- if i am so effective that -- you, i can't believe you said that and they storm the stage, then it might just be the best joke of all time. but, no, i can't imagine. but hey, you never know. >> i'm sure you're holding back. you're not going to be tough on president obama, for instance, right? >> no, not at all. i'm not going to tell any jokes about him. >> but you wouldn't -- >> if you become too strident in these things, if it's not funny, then it's not funny and you just look like a guy yelling at someone. it has to be funny before anything else. you have to be an equal opportunity make funner of, make funner of which is a catch phrase that i -- and also proper

english, by the way. funner. if you don't make fun of everybody, everybody is going to go, hey, what about that guy? it just has to be equal opportunity. >> and in the spirit of keeping things even, once we wrapped our interview at the w, i joined joel on the set of "the soup" where cnn has been before. >> wolf blitzer took on the weiner gate story. >> after a bit of rehearsal with chuck todd with nbc and "scandal," it was go time. from "the soup's" green screen, joel mchale seems ready to go up against anybody. let's talk about the prom and this whole weird weekend we have in washington. i want to bring in author of

this town now available in paper back. you wrote an entire book about washington mainly amongst itself and we have hollywood into the mix. the fact that washington can be so self-aware, the country does not look with great esteem upon or country. it's not just a dinner. it's -- i did a back of the envelope calculation the other day and $50,000 is spent on hospitality and food over a five-day period. so what, to quote joel mchale but maybe it sends the wrong message. >> the white house correspondents' association dinner, the point of it is to have these scholarships. they raise a lot of money for

these kids. there's not a lot of focus on the kids or scholarships. >> do you know how many scholarships they could provide with the cost of the food? "the new york times" does not go to the dinner anymore. maybe i'm just jealous and upset. >> i always found that a little weird because "the new york times," like every reporter, like every media organization, already has issues of sources being too close to reporters. >> sure. >> and corporations having too much influence over what gets published. how does boycotting this dinner have any effect? >> i think boycott is probably too strong of a word. this was the decision of the washington bureau chief in 2007, i think, just sort of living beyond its usefulness that there was a level of coziness and unseriousness that he didn't want to be associated with and really there's been no outcry that i've been aware of in the newsroom. i think it a problem of self awareness in the city and

something that the city -- >> it looks bad. it looks bad because people look at washington, they look at us in the media, politicians and say this country is -- most americans think we're going in the wrong direction and yet you're celebrating. what are you celebrating. >> that's right. and my book, "this town," the story is about disconnect not to mention, again, the low uponsops versus -- >> so you're not going to go to any event? >> i will go to one event. i will give myself one -- i will be doing media trashing the rest of the events. if i go to more than one, i will cross hypocrisy. >> i'll say hello to your

colleagues. one thing about comedy. it's a weird gig. what advice would you give to joel mchale? the one thing i say is, don't assume that the room is incredibly politically aware about everything because the truth is this room is full of people who just got good tickets. >> i think like any political show business thing, they are playing on television but there's a huge tv audience and i'm going to be counterintuitive. i would hope that they would be controversial. the most memorable routines like stephen colbert -- >> that's the most. >> that's the most. when you have presidents that take the chances, they are at the tv dinner. president obama is talking about weapons of mass destruction. >> that is awful. >> it was awful. i was in the room and yet everyone was laughing. >> not me and rob. i can tell you, we were sitting there. that was awful. >> i'm not a radio and tv guy. you have that. bill clinton, i guess, that was

a radio thing, too. i like things interesting and different. >> so you want edgy? >> i want edgy. and i would argue that stephen colbert benefited from that and maybe benefitted in a partisan way that offended a lot of potential conservative fans of his. we knew where he was. >> i think it's tough because people are sitting there saying, 15 jokes about cnn and 30 about fox. zero about msnbc. >> the whole nerd prompt thing, it's such a ridiculous misnomer. are nerds this vain? >> i like it. our 50 minutes are up. >> our 50 minutes are up. have fun, everyone. >> you can, of course, read mark's book. watch joel mchale's big speech right here on cnn at the

association dinner that starts at 8:00 p.m. eastern and we're going to have a red carpet preview event. don't worry. i won't be judging who wore it best. follow me on twitter @jaketapper. check out our show page @thelead. >> jake, thanks very much, breaking news, brink of war. the death toll and the unrest, is the crisis spiralling out of control? breaking news, banned from the nba for life or racist remarks. what is he saying now about his alleged girlfriend and their